Personalization- 2017 Digital Trend, or Digital Expectation?

As the “Best of 2016” and “2017 Trends to Watch For” lists begin to flutter all my favorite digital marketing sites and social newsfeeds, I stopped and had a thought. At what point do these trends become an expectation for consumers, and must-haves in your web strategy?

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, quicker than ever before and as consumers gain more knowledge about the web, their expectations increase. Marketers must be well ahead of the trends in order keep their customers coming back and engaging with their site.

Take personalization for example. Personalization is already gearing up to be one of the biggest digital buzzwords in 2017. But according to eMarketer, “70% of people expect a personalized experience”. Therefore, shouldn’t it be past the buzzword and trend phase?

56% of customers are more likely to buy with a personalized experience. (Source: Usabilla)

Marketing and web teams need to be implementing personalized features into a website right from the beginning phases of a redesign. Both teams need to strategize how to offer the most unique experience for each visitor and their persona attributes. Site visitors have become accustomed to sites such as Amazon, Expedia, and Google that are known for their impressive use of personalization. Therefore, when visitors come across your site you want their experience to match their “Google-like” feature expectation.